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HOLLYWOOD PRIVATE HOSPITAL: A RELATIONSHIP-BASED APPROACH
PROJECT IN THE SPOTLIGHT
HOLLYWOOD PRIVATE HOSPITAL: A RELATIONSHIP- BASED APPROACH
A RECENT PROJECT BRIDGE42 LED IN THE HEALTH SECTOR USED A RELATIONSHIP-BASED, EARLY CONTRACTOR INVOLVEMENT (ECI) APPROACH. PROJECT DIRECTOR MIKE YATES EXPLAINS JUST WHY IT WAS SO SUCCESSFUL.
The Bridge42 team is no stranger to the risks and challenges faced by our clients in the health sector. Delivering hospital and health care facilities are highly complex and often undertaken in live operating environments, so these projects must be handled with as much care and attention as the services health care providers deliver to their patients.
We know that project values are significant, but funding and budgets are stretched to cover diverse and competing needs. Health and safety are paramount, however, exacerbated by a highly sensitive and 24/7 environment that prioritises the welfare of patients and carers. Shareholders and stakeholders alike demand transparency and results. And time is of the essence, as always, to meet the ever-increasing health and wellbeing needs of growing and ageing communities.
A recent project Bridge42 led in the health sector was the new $64 million Hollywood Consulting Centre and Mental Health Unit (an expansion of the Ramsay Clinic Hollywood) was delivered for global health care provider, Ramsay Health Care. Hollywood Private Hospital is the largest hospital in Western Australia and the largest private hospital in Australia, caring for more than 70,000 patients per year.
This much-needed redevelopment was to provide care and treatment for more patients while effectively addressing the growing demand for medical specialists and mental health services within the local community and surrounding areas.
PROCUREMENT STRATEGY
Bridge42 was engaged by Ramsay Health Care as project manager and superintendent in 2018 to project manage the entire redevelopment.
The table (refer to: https://issuu.com/aipmmagazine/docs/aipm_a4_digital_magazine_autumn_2022_v3) illustrates in which stages of a project lifecycle the responsibility lies for various procurement options.
We gave careful consideration to the contractor procurement methodology to match the risk profile of the client and ensure best-for-project outcomes.
While the traditional approaches have been tried and tested, they have not always proven to be the best fit for every client and their respective projects. Some of the shortcomings of traditional options are that they:
• are driven heavily from a legal perspective – ‘tough’ contracts which are too reliant on a contract to secure favourable outcomes
• transfer disproportionate risk – typically based upon passing more risk to the contractor which promotes poor outcomes
• push up prices unnecessarily due to contractors covering for their risk and the unknowns
• increase the risk of projects running late and over budget
• create an adversarial project environment – stifling innovation and knowledge transfer, and offering limited relationship and collaboration opportunities.
The range of evidence confirming the complex and challenging nature of construction projects is startling:
• While the overall volume of construction disputes globally remains the same in 2020 as in 2019, the average value of disputes has increased significantly in the same period from US$30.7 million to US$54.26 million (2021 Global Construction Disputes Report from Arcadis).
• Construction, engineering and infrastructure accounted for almost 50% of domestic and international arbitration cases across Australia in 2020, comprising 48% (AU$154 million) of the total amount in dispute (2020 Australian Arbitration Report from ACICA).
• Risk allocation was the most commonly nominated issue affecting the Australian construction industry, with both risk allocation and collaborative contracting as the most mentioned items identified as having the potential to improve the industry (The Health of the Australian Construction Industry from The University of Melbourne).
The risks at stake are clear and, hence, it is unsurprising that project stakeholders from all perspectives seek to find better, fairer, and more cohesive ways to work together.
A collaborative procurement approach can mitigate a range of project risks by offering benefits such as more equitable apportioning of responsibility; encouraging combined efforts for enhanced teamwork, issues identification and problemsolving; and an overall faster, more streamlined programme.
At Bridge42, we believe in a ‘mutual endeavour’ whereby we measure our success by the strength of our relationships. We create potent partnerships to deliver on our clients’ visions and realise transformative outcomes.
Fortunately, industry agrees with the ECI strategy as a way forward. We have seen an increasing appetite and upward trend for ECI procurement which is gaining traction as it becomes perceived more as mainstream and less as the alternative.
HIGH-QUALITY OUTCOMES
The implementation of this collaborative, relationship-based ECI procurement strategy generated $1 million of savings. This was returned to the budget contingency and a large portion was subsequently reallocated to further enhance the patient experience in the state-of-the-art Endoscopy Suite.
The tangible benefits and highquality outcomes realised in this project included:
• budget savings, excellent value for money and value adds
• impeccable safety record
• no trade disputes
• strong relationships between all stakeholders
• fast-tracked delivery with practical completion ahead of schedule
• a smooth transition to operations.
Completed in March 2020, the five-storey Hollywood Consulting Centre comprises:
• state-of-the-art Endoscopy Suite with four procedure rooms, 17 recovery bays and 14 discharge pods
• cancer imaging specialist
• radiation oncology and radiology services
• 33 strata-titled medical consulting suites
• 280-bay multi-storey car park.
The two-storey mental health day hospital was completed in April 2020 and increases the total number of inpatient mental health beds available to 101, making Ramsay Clinic Hollywood one of the largest private mental health facilities in Western Australia.
AWARD-WINNING SUCCESS
The project went on to win an AIPM WA Project Management Achievement Award (PMAA) in 2021 for the Construction/ Engineering Project of the Year for demonstrating outstanding achievement, excellence, leadership and/or innovation in the application of project management.
The success of this project underscores the importance of selecting a procurement strategy that is right for the client, right for the project, and aligns with the client’s business drivers.
Furthermore, this case study illustrates the significant and positive impact that collaborative contracting can have on guiding all project partners toward a common vision – forming a cohesive, bestfor-project team. It ensures buyin and accountability from the beginning through to completion; it encourages transparency, communication, and innovation; and it creates a supportive environment for all stakeholders to share knowledge and cocreate solutions.
A relationship-based approach – particularly in a human-centred sector such as health – can deliver an incredibly positive ‘one team, one dream’ experience. It builds strong bonds and breeds goodwill that lasts long after a project has finished and even into the next. But the biggest benefit of all, ultimately, are the superior outcomes that can be realised for the client and end users.
Author: Mike Yates is a Project Director at Bridge42. He has extensive technical and stakeholder knowledge and is passionate about fostering collaborative team environments to ensure only the best possible outcomes for every project.
One of the four procedure rooms in the Endoscopy Suite (source: Georgiou)
The patient discharge lounge in the Endoscopy Suite offers 14 private pods (source: Georgiou)
